Flange reducing tool



March 1, 1955 s. GLoosKlN 2,703,031

FLANGE REDUCING TOOL Filed Nov. 20, 1951 INVENTQR. '16' .SH/fafa 62oosw/A/ H7710 Pme/Y.

United States Patent() FLAN GE REDUCIN G TGOL Samuel Glooskin, Hartford,Conn., assigner of one-half to Arthur I. Gluskin, Providence, R. I.

Application November 20, 1951, Serial No. 257,341

1 Claim. (Cl. 82-4) This invention relates to a ange reducing tool andmore particularly to a tool for reducing the flanges on wheels ofrailroad locomotives and the like.

It is well known among those skilled in the art that, when the outsidediameter of the treads on the Wheels of a locomotive become reduced, dueto wear caused by contact between the surfaces of said treads and thebrake shoes of the brake system of the locomotive, the tlanges of saidwheels become higher relatively to the tread surfaces. When the saidflanges become so high that they present the danger of striking tiebolts and other protuberances along the sides of the rails, it isnecessary that their height be reduced by a turning or cuttingoperation.

It has been common practice to remove the Wheels from the locomotive andturn the llanges down in a suitable machine such as a lathe or the like.This, however, is necessarily a long procedure which requires numeroushelpers and many hours of labor and results in a very costly operation.

In order to reduce the labor and cost of the operation, several toolshave been heretofore developed which were adapted to be attached to thebrake shoe levers of the locomotive so as to turn down the flanges byrotating the wheels under the locomotive's own power and withoutrequiring the removal of the wheels from the locomotives. Such previoustools, however, have heretofore not been successful for the reason thatthey were not properly supported to perform a satisfactory flangereducing operation and required too much power for the capacity of thelocomotive. In some cases, the previous tools were supported upon thetread of the wheel and thereby presented much resistance to the power ofthe locomotive with the result that in many instances such previoustools have been discarded.

It is an object of this invention, therefore, to provide a flangereducing tool which may be readily attached to the brake shoe lever, orhanger, of a locomotive and which is supported upon said hanger so thatonly the cutting blade of the tool will engage the wheel flange tothereby produce a smooth cutting operation upon the said flange andreduce the height of said ange with a minimum of power which is wellwithin the capacity of the locomotive.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a flange reducingtool which may be mounted upon the hanger for a brake shoe in such amanner that it is wholly adjustably supported on said hanger so as toposition the cutting tip of the tool at the proper angle, relatively tothe llange, to produce the most efficient operation and a smooth cut onsaid flange.

lt is still a further object of this invention to provide such a toolwhich is adjustably supported upon the hanger by means of an adjustableabutment that is located between the tool and the edge surface of thehanger so as to firmly and steadily support the cutting blade of saidtool in cutting contact with the outer edge of the flange being reduced.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a ilange reducingtool which is simple in construction, economical to produce and whichmay be conveniently adjusted during the use thereof to produce the mostsatisfactory results.

Further objects and advantages of my invention will be more clearlyunderstood from the following description and the accompanying drawingsin which:

Fig. l is a plan view of a tlange reducing tool embodying my invention.

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Fig. 2 is a side view thereof.

Fig. 3 is a front view of said tool.

Fig. 4 is a side view in central vertical section on line 4 4 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a sectional top view showing a slightly modi- `tied form of atool and also of a cutting blade.

As illustrated in the drawings, the numeral 5 denotes a conventionallocomotive wheel having a tread 6 and a flange 7 along a side of thetread. A brake shoe hanger 8 is commonly provided adjacent to suchwheels to carry a conventional brake shoe which is applied against thesurface of the tread 6 for braking the locomotive.

Due to the wear on the tread, which is caused by contact between thesurface thereof and the brake shoe, the said tread frequently becomesworn to such an extent that the tlange 7 projects far enough beyond thetread surface to present the danger of the flange striking bolts, tieplates or other protuberances along the sides of the rails on which thesaid locomotive travels. It is then customary to reduce the outsidediameter of the flange so as to lower its height with relation to thetread surface and thereby eliminate such danger.

The improved tool which I provide by my invention, for reducing suchllanges without requiring the removal of the wheels from the locomotive,comprises an elongated holder 9 having spaced notches 10-10 at the rearside thereof that are formed by projections 11-11--11 which contain ahole 12 that extends across the notches 10-10.

At the front of said holder there is provided a slot 13 which runslongitudinally in the edge of the holder and is adapted to receive asuitable cutting blade 14 having a cutting edge 15. y

Below the holder there is provided a projection, preferably in the formof a rib 16, which depends from the bottom of said holder and extendslongitudinally thereof and an adjusting screw 17 is threaded to said riband extends rearwardly therethrough in line with each of the notches10-10 so as to adjustably support the said tool on the hanger 8.

When it is desired to reduce the flange of a locomotive wheel by meansof my improved tool, the brake shoe for that Wheel is removed from thehanger 8 and the holder 9 of the tool is swivelly mounted upon saidhanger by placing it so that the hanger will lit in the appropriatenotch 11 and then inserting the mounting pin 18 through the hole 12 andthrough the hole in the hanger which is normally used for mounting thebrake shoe thereon. The cutting tool 15 is then inserted into the slot13 and positioned therein so that it will be opposite the llange 7 onthe wheel.

lt will be noted that the hanger 8 is conventionally positioned in linewith the surface of the tread 6 and out of line with the flange 7 andthat the notches 10--10 in the holder 9 permit the mounting of theholder upon the hanger in such a manner that it will project from oneside of the hanger sufficiently to position the cutting tool 14 in linewith the llange 7 and thereby adapt the said tool for use on both theright and left wheels of a locomotive by simply using the appropriateone of the notches 10.

When the tool is mounted to the hanger as above described, the end ofthe corresponding adjusting screw 17 will engage the edge of the hanger8, as clearly shown in Figs. l and 2, and thereby firmly support thecutting blade in cutting engagement with the flange. When the wheel 5 isrotated, in the direction of the arrow 19, and the tool 14 is moved intocontact with the periphery of the ange 7, the outside diameter of saidflange will be reduced so as to lower its height relatively to the tread6. The force applied against the cutting tool will thrust the end of thescrew 17 against the edge surface of the hanger 8 and this provides arigid support for the cutting tool which eliminates chatter andvibration and thereby permits a smooth cutting operation.

It has been found that by locating the screw on the holder as abovedescribed, so that the thrust of said screw is applied in the directionof the hanger 8 and the end of the screw abuts directly against the edgeof said hanger, there is provided a more rigid support for the cuttingtool which produces a smoother surface upon the llange and permits adeeper cut. It has also been found that it is possible to cut acontinuous curved chip one-sixteenth ofk an inch thick off the flange bysimply applying the tool against the edge thereof with an air pressureof approximately lbs. which is applied to the hanger 8 through the brakesystem of the locomotive.

The results above described are being regularly obtained with myimproved reducing tool incases where it has been found impractical touse other reducing tools which are diierently supported, due to theunsatisfactory results produced by them.

By using one of my improved tools on the wheel of a locomotive, whilerunning a locomotive on its own power at a slow speed, the ange of saidwheel may be readily reduced by applying a pressure of approximately 10lbs. through the brake system to move the hanger 8 and force the cuttingtool into engagement with the flange. This operation has been simplifiedby means of my improved reducing tool to a point where the flanges onfour wheels of a conventional locomotive can be reduced in a period ofapproximately thirty minutes as compared to a much longer period of timeneeded with other tools which are differently supported relatively tothe wheel langes. A complete reducing operation may be formed on aconventional locomotive wheel by running the locomotive over a distanceof about sixty yards with my improved tool applied against the flange asabove described.

I have found that the best results are obtained from my improved cuttingtool when the cutting tool 14 is positioned on a radial line 20,extending through the axis of the pivot pin 18, so that the cutting edge15 is just slightly above the said line as this eliminates chatter andpermits a much deeper and smoother cut than could otherwise be obtained.

In the illustration of Fig. 5, a slightly modilied form of my improvedange reducing tool is shown in use on a double type brake shoe hangersuch as commonly found v10-.10 are spaced farther apart to receive thetwo bracket hangers 22h21 and each of the supporting screws 17--17 abutsthe edge of its respective hanger member so that the holder is firmlysupported by both ends.

The cutting blade shown in Fig. 5 is shaped to round off the edge of theange during a reducing operation.

I claim:

Wheel re-turning means for attachment to a brake hanger for a wheel tobe re-turned and adapted for operation on the wheel ange, said meanshaving a body of trapezoidal form with spaced vertical slots extendinginwardly from one face of the body and a substantially horizontal slotat the opposite face of the body extending at right angles to the firstmentioned slots, a cutter selectively seatable along the substantiallyhorizontal slot, a removable pin extending through the body andselectively transtixing the first mentioned slots whereby the pinextends through the brake shoe supporting opening of the hanger, a angeportion extending downwardly from beneath 'the horizontally disposedslot and inwardly of the side of the holder supporting the cutter; thesaid ange portion having threaded holes extending therethrough inalignment with the respective vertical slots, and an adjusting screwtting each of said holes.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

